Author News

Dallas restaurant honcho to do book signing for his dishy new tell-all tome

Restaurant industr veteran Mark Brezinski has written a dishy new book.

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A Dallas-based restaurant industry honcho has written a dishy new book: Called ForkFight! Whisks, Risks, and Conflicts Behind the Restaurant Curtain, it's by Mark Brezinski, a 45-year food & beverage pro famous for creating or co-creating some of the industry's biggest game-changing concepts.

Heralded by Simon & Schuster as "the most compelling, insightful, and white-knuckled journey behind the restaurant curtain since Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential," the 225-page hardcover book, published by Post Hill Press, chronicles Brezinski's colorful career, spanning the globe in search of culinary discoveries and inspirations with industry icons like the late Norman Brinker, Paul Fleming, Phil Romano, and chefs Michael Mina and Mark Miller.

If you love hot gossip about restaurant industry bigwigs, this book is a must-read.

Brezinski will be doing a book signing of ForkFight! on Saturday, April 22 from 1-3 pm at Bizzy Burger Merchants, his latest concept, located at 13251 Montfort Dr., Dallas.

A graduate of the famed School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, Brezinski has had a hand in creating multiple nationally acclaimed restaurant companies, from Pei Wei to Velvet Taco to Tin Star to Trinity Groves.

In a statement, Brezinski says that he uses the book to open up about his successes and failures in the restaurant world, wherein he worked alongside some "dynamic" personalities, dynamic, that's a nice word.

"This is certainly a no-holds-barred look inside this consistently challenging industry that keeps me coming back for more," he says.

Former associates and collaborators such as Christophe Poirier, Chief Brand Officer, New Business Development, at Pizza Hut Global, offer high praise.

"Many creative guys are working on renovation, they take something that exists, polish it, and make it look new," Poirier says. "Not Mark. He has the capability to create a new blue ocean."

Lane Cardwell, former CEO of Boston Market, former President of P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and former CEO of Eatzi's Market & Bakery, notes that despite all his achievements, Brezinski retains an almost-surprising humility.

"I have lived in this industry for decades and learned something new about it in every chapter of the book," Cardwell says. "Informative, entertaining, and filled with life lessons, ForkFight! should yield this humble individual the credit he so rightfully deserves for his contributions to the industry."

Brezinski's creations have won many a "Hot Concept" award, and he was recently named one of "Nation's Restaurant News Most Influential Restaurant CEOs." D Magazine hailed him as "the father of Dallas' fast casual food scene" and in 2020, he was named one of North Texas Top 500 CEOs by the D CEO Magazine.

His travels have taken him from Tokyo to Tuscany, from San Francisco to Shanghai, and from Mumbai to Maui. And while his concept have comprised a wide range of cuisines, including Indian, Italian, French, and Vietnamese, Brezinski says he has always had a soft spot for Asian food - in concepts he consulted on such as Marugame Udon, and in restaurants he founded, such as Bengal Coast, the Asian-fusion restaurant he founded in the Centrum Building on Oak Lawn Avenue, now closed.

Dallas has been the lucky recipient of many of his innovative ideas and concepts including

Banh Shop, the fast-casual banh mi concept he helped Yum! Brands launch in 2014
Food halls: Brezinski was well ahead of the curve when he co-founded Uptown Urban Market, a food hall in the Gables building in Uptown Dallas in 2014
Bizzy Burger Merchants, his newest concept that reimagines a better version of fast food, featuring petite burgers made from HeartBrand Premium Akaushi Beef served on cult favorite King's Hawaiian buns

"I hope that this book takes readers to all of these places and more while telling behind-the-scenes stories — sometimes funny, often heartbreaking, and never without lessons learned," Brezinski says. "I believe that the journey is a remarkable tag-along to the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur and the self-discovery that comes with each stop."

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Pizza News

Iconic Dallas pizza chain Campisi's snags hot address on Inwood Road

Campisi's

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An iconic name in pizza is opening in one of Dallas' ritziest neighborhoods: Campisi's, the beloved longtime pizza chain, will open a location at 7709 Inwood Rd., taking over the desirable space previously occupied by Perch, which closed in March.

The location, across the street from Inwood Village, brings Campisi's back to a neighborhood where it has resided for 30 years, says owner David Campisi.

Most recently, they were in a storefront at 5405 W. Lovers Ln. but were ousted after 20 years in the space, when the center suffered a fire in December 2025. Prior to that, they operated a satellite location in Inwood Village, in the former Lovers Egg Roll space next to Pogo's.

"This will be our third location at Lovers Lane and Inwood Road, where we've been serving generation after generation," David says.

His goal is to open by January 1.

The space, which was originally a Steak & Ale, has seen turnover in recent years. Prior to Perch, it was Dea, an Italian restaurant, and before that, a popular location of Fireside Pies. But scoring it was a triumph, and Campisi won out over other suitors.

"I'm hoping to be good neighbors with Shinsei owner Lynae Fearing," David says.

This Campisi's will be larger than most of the other eight locations in the chain, but David has some bold plans that incorporate both relying on tradition while looking ahead.

"You've got all these out-of-town concepts charging $4 for an iced tea," he says. "We want to be what we've always been: a restaurant for everybody — a dining experience with great food and service where you don't have to wear a sports coat."

It'll definitely have a bigger bar presence.

"The new location will be a little more bar-driven," he says. "It'll have a huge horseshoe bar where you can get small bites for a great price. We won't do happy hour. We'll just always have the strongest and cheapest drinks on Lovers Lane — taking you back in time to the intimate Club Room vibe at the original Campisi's on Mockingbird Lane."

Campisi's signature dishes include its thin-crust rectangular Sicilian-style pizza, buttery crab claws, and "Joe's Famous" garlic toast. Other menu signatures include shrimp scampi, lasagna, spaghetti & meatballs, and fettuccine alfredo.

"But we'll introduce some daily specials, like a fresh pasta of the day," David says. "We've always had weekly staples, like Tuesday nights, we do an $8.99 spaghetti with red sauce, with garlic toast and a house salad — we stole this idea from El Fenix — and on Wednesdays, we do $5 Chianti. We're not creating value meals, we're adding value. The pricing in this city has spiraled and I think people are tired of it."

Opening the location will also help streamline delivery, which represents a large chunk of their business, to that side of town. (They also just opened a dedicated pickup and delivery location at Preston-Royal at 5944 Royal Ln.)

Updates on the interior at the new location are underway, with a goal to "exceed expectations" for their generations of guests.

"You'll see the red tufted booths, the dim lights, our vintage photos bringing our long history in Dallas to this location," David says. "We've lasted 80 years because we are a family — we don't have employees, we have 350-plus family members, and they're the reason. In the end, it'll be a red sauce joint — we're not trying to be anything else."

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